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CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility Annual Report 2015 CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility Annual Report 2015

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CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility Annual Report 2015 CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility Annual Report 2015 ASTRONOMY AND SPACE SCIENCE www.csiro.au CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility Annual Report 2015 CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility Annual Report 2015 ISSN 1038–9554 This is the report of the CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility for the calendar year 2015, approved CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility by the Australia Telescope Steering Committee. Annual Report 2015 Editor: Helen Sim ISSN 1038–9554 Design and typesetting: Caitlin Edwards This is the report of the CSIRO Australia Telescope PrintedNational and Facility bound for theby XXXcalendar year 2015, approved by the Australia Telescope Steering Committee. Cover image: Work being done on an antenna of the AustralianEditor: Helen SKA Sim Pathfinder. Credit: CSIRO Inner cover image: An observer in the ATNF Science Design and typesetting: Caitlin Edwards Operations Centre. Credit: Flornes Yuen Printed and bound by XXX Cover image: Work being done on an antenna of the Australian SKA Pathfinder. Credit: CSIRO Inner cover image: An observer in the ATNF Science Operations Centre. Credit: Flornes Yuen b Document title Contents Acting Director’s report ...........................................................................................................2 Chair’s report ..........................................................................................................................3 ATNF Director Lewis Ball ..........................................................................................................4 The ATNF in brief .....................................................................................................................5 Performance indicators ...........................................................................................................9 Science highlights ................................................................................................................. 15 Facility operations .................................................................................................................29 ATNF management team ........................................................................................................ 46 Appendices ...........................................................................................................................47 A: Commitee membership ..............................................................................................................................................49 B: Financial summary .......................................................................................................................................................50 C: Staff List ........................................................................................................................................................................51 D: Observing programs ...................................................................................................................................................54 E: PhD students ................................................................................................................................................................61 F: PhD theses ....................................................................................................................................................................62 G: Publications .................................................................................................................................................................63 H: Abbreviations ..............................................................................................................................................................76 1 Acting Director’s report Dr Douglas Bock, Acting Director, Australia Telescope National Facility. Credit: Wheeler Studios This year saw great progress on the which the SKA Observatory will be At the Compact Array, 2015 was the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP). The constituted. Towards the end of the first year in which remote observing first ASKAP science papers appeared, year the Australian Government became the default. We have kept the demonstrating the potential of phased announced $294m of funding for ‘user-operator’ model, but have also array feeds (PAFs) for radio astronomy hosting the SKA, as part of its National begun the first trials of unattended and the uniqueness of the Murchison Innovation and Science Agenda. observing. As at Parkes, the telescope Radio-astronomy Observatory. While systems worked well and scientific the Boolardy Engineering Test Array At Parkes and Narrabri this year productivity has not shown any (ASKAP with six first-generation PAFs) we consolidated the changes of immediate change. However, if our was being used for commissioning, recent years and continued to instrumentation program is to flourish the second-generation phased array support world-class science. we must keep the connection between feeds began to roll off the production Instrumentation at the Parkes engineers and scientists, local or line. These feeds have improved telescope had been reduced and all visiting, alive. A synergy of large performance and maintainability and observing is now conducted remotely. research infrastructure, technology reduced cost. In October the ASKAP However, as 2015’s publication development and scientific excellence PAF team received CSIRO’s highest statistics indicate, Parkes remains remains what the ATNF aims to deliver. award, the Chairman’s medal. a world-class facility. As part of a However, ASKAP will now remain a program to renew the telescope’s stand-alone instrument longer than instrumentation, we began this year to envisaged. The Square Kilometre build an ultra-wideband low-frequency Array project was re-baselined early receiver and installed an ASKAP in 2015: SKA Survey, which was to PAF at Parkes for commissioning have comprised ASKAP and 60 other tests. Proven Parkes technology was antennas, was indefinitely deferred, chosen for China’s Five-hundred- and the low- and mid-frequency metre Aperture Spherical Telescope SKA telescopes were scaled down. (FAST), with CSIRO to produce a Australia’s SKA component will now 19-beam multibeam receiver for be SKA-Low, an array of around FAST. We also signed a contract to 130,000 dipoles. With the SKA observe for Breakthrough Listen, the re-baselining done, negotiations first major SETI program to run on began for the Convention under Parkes since Project Phoenix in 1995. 2 CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility | Annual Report 2015 Chair’s report Dr Susan Barrell, Chair, ATNF Steering Committee. Credit: Bureau of Meteorology The Steering Committee welcomed provides its unique field of view, and continue community consultation in the operational and technological acknowledged the world-class science the development of science priorities achievements of the Australia it will deliver for many years to come. for the Compact Array and, with an Telescope National Facility (ATNF) The committee emphasised the value eye to the foreseeable end of Compact in 2015 and the high-quality science of ongoing Australian engagement Array science on the timescale of a outcomes to which they contributed, in the SKA, especially in SKA-Low. decade, to additionally call for large- and expressed appreciation for the In relation to the future of ASKAP, it scale ‘Legacy’ science projects, which leadership of the Director, Dr Lewis advised that the maximum benefit would feature an open-access data Ball, and his team in delivering for Australia, in terms of scientific policy with no proprietary period. them. The award of the CSIRO leadership and impact, technology Chairman’s Medal to the ASKAP development and intellectual property, The Steering Committee supports a team for the implementation of would be derived through retaining consolidated astronomy governance the phased array feeds (PAFs) was Australian ownership and control of model for the future of Australian a significant acknowledgement of ASKAP and actively seeking to further astronomy as Australia engages in the innovation and engineering develop the instrument, its technology global-scale astronomy facilities, but excellence of the team. and the survey science, including recognises that close involvement through international partnerships. with the entire community is The committee convened on two critical to achieving a successful occasions and consulted throughout The Steering Committee recognised outcome. The committee expressed the year, with the aim of providing the need to sustain the current suite confidence that in the event such high-level advice to guide the of radio astronomy facilities (Parkes, consolidation does occur, an strategic directions, performance and the Compact Array, ASKAP) for the appropriate governance and delivery allocation of observing resources for next 5–10 years in order to deliver on structure could be implemented the facility. Advice to the Director the priorities of the 2016–25 Decadal under CSIRO to deliver a broader and the CSIRO Board was especially Plan for Australian astronomy. The range of astronomy infrastructure focussed around three key areas: committee acknowledged the lean for the community. In order to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) operations model implemented maximise community alignment, strategy; operations and funding of by CASS for Parkes, the remote the implementation of such a model the ATNF; and astronomy governance. operations of the Compact Array should reflect the
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